Formation Issues in the CRE

The members of the Formation Secretariat of the CRE met in San Gioacchino from 11th December until 13th December. They are: Father Jacek Zdrzalek (Co-ordinator), Fr. Ronnie McAinsh (London), Fr. Maurizio Iannuario (Naples) and Fr. Metod Lukacik (Michalovce).

The matters for the agenda included reviewing the location, participation and input on the Common Preparation for Final Vows to be held in Poland in 2017. For this part of the meeting, Fr. Witold Hetnar was in attendance as one of the main organisers.

This part of the agenda also included the ongoing formation for our confreres in the transition period of ministry; and this is being extended to welcome more of our younger priests and Brothers to participate.

A central feature of our agenda was a discussion on the proposed common Theologate of the CRE in Rome. Looking at the numbers, it appears it will not be possible to commence this in 2017, and it has been suggested that we open the opportunity of participating in this venture to members of other Conferences.

We also examined plans for the interprovincial Novitiates in Ciorani and Lubaszowa-Podoliniec for 2017/2018.

A substantial amount of time was spent in doing remote preparations for the programme for our formadee to visit places associated with Saint Clement. This is scheduled for August 2018 and will include visits to Warsaw, Krakow, Tasowice and Vienna. The logistics of this pilgrimage are challenging, and each member of the Secretariat is tasked with collecting more information about possibilities.

The meeting of the Formators in Trois Epis in 2018 will also take place, but with rescheduled dates which will be communicated to the Major Superiors by the Coordinator.

We spent a considerable amount of time looking at the formation decisions of the General Chapter to see which of them directly impact on us at Conference level. This is an ongoing work.

Finally in terms of ongoing formation, we highlighted the course in spirituality prepared by the Centre for Spirituality in Rome.

Ronald J. McAinsh, C.SS.R.